pro·gres·sive / prəˈgresiv/ • adj. 1. happening or developing gradually or in stages; proceeding step by step: a progressive decline in popularity. ∎  (of a disease or ailment) increasing in severity or extent: progressive liver failure. ∎  (of taxation or a tax) increasing as a proportion of the sum taxed as that sum increases: steeply progressive income taxes. ∎  (of a card game or dance) involving a series of sections for which participants successively change place or relative position. ∎ archaic engaging in or constituting forward motion.2. (of a group, person, or idea) favoring or implementing social reform or new, liberal ideas: a relatively progressive governor. ∎  favoring or promoting change or innovation: a progressive art school. ∎  relating to or denoting a style of rock music popular esp. in the 1980s and characterized by classical influences, the use of keyboard instruments, and lengthy compositions.3. Gram. denoting an aspect or tense of a verb that expresses an action in progress, e.g., am writing, was writing. Also called continuous.• n. 1. a person advocating or implementing social reform or new, liberal ideas.2. Gram. a progressive tense or aspect: the present progressive.3. (also progressive proof) (usu. progressives) Printing each of a set of proofs of color work, showing all the colors separately and the cumulative effect of overprinting them.DERIVATIVES: pro·gres·sive·ly adv.pro·gres·sive·ness n.pro·gres·siv·ism / -ˈgresəˌvizəm/ n.pro·gres·siv·ist / -ˈgresəvist/ n. & adj.

PROGRESSIVE, also continuous. Terms for a VERB form that basically denotes duration. In English, the contrast is between progressive (She is repairing computers) and non-progressive (She repairs computers). The progressive is constructed in English by a combination of a form of the verb be and the -ing form of the following verb: was talking, may be calling, has been seeing, is being investigated. The English progressive is generally considered to be an ASPECT (the way in which the temporal situation is viewed by the speaker), as contrasted with a TENSE (the location of the situation in time). However, the marking of aspect is always combined with the marking of tense: is reading is present progressive; was reading is past progressive.

progressive (prŏ-gres-iv) adj. (of a disease) increasing in severity or extent; expected to get worse.